J 10 



THE GUIDE T< ) X VTURE 



kind whi( li \\ ill hi >t live < >ut i >f di m »i s 

 all winter in this climate. The Vic- 

 toria regia, though the greatesl of 

 water lilies, is not a hardy variety and 

 musl be planted in tubs or boxes which 

 are submerged in water artificially 

 heated. In Prospecl Park, Brooklyn, 

 one of the lil} ponds is devoted to the 

 cultivation of these Victoria regia, and 

 a portion of this pond is shown in the 

 accompan) ing ph< itograph. 



j;y 



A Veteran Hemlock. 

 MII.o I.K<>.\ NORTON, BRISTOL, CONN 



Oliver Wendell Holmes describes a 

 hemlock tree that blew down in a gale 



THE VETERAN HEMLOCK. 



in Massachusetts, in 1853, that measured 

 twelve and one-half feet in circum- 

 ference, and was three hundred and fifty 

 years old. I have found its rival stand- 

 ing so near the corners of three towns — 

 Harwinton, Plymouth and Thomaston, 

 Conn. — that I am unable to say to which 

 town it belongs. It is fourteen feet three 

 inches in circumference, and, accord- 

 ing to the rule of three, using Holmes's 

 tree as the basis of calculation, it is 

 about four hundred years old. Its 



spreading habit, making it undesirable 

 for lumber, saved it from the wood- 

 man's ax. It i^ still in good condition, 

 though two of its branches have fallen, 

 having been broken down by the heavy 

 accumulation of ice about a dozen years 

 ago. Directly beneath the tree is a 

 spring of cold, clear water- a cup of 

 which is held by the writer as shown in 

 the picture. So far as I know, it is the 

 largest tree of its kind in Connecticut. 



Earth-Stars. 



BY MRS. M. K. McDOUGALL, PLATTSBURGH, 

 NEW YORK. 



The Geasters or earth-stars are the 

 most picturesque forms of the puff- 

 balls. They have no economic value, 

 but are interesting to nature students 

 on account of their beauty and curious 

 ways of discharging their spores. 



THE EARTH-STARS. 



